Stuck
by Cotton Candy Mareep
Summary: Six friends find themselves in a bad situation after a night on the town. Now they're stuck here indefinitely, trapped in a cramped, broken down elevator in the middle of a shady parking ramp, with only each other to help pass the time as they await rescue... If it ever comes.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: So this is my first, and possibly only, fanfic for Victorious. Got the idea for this from some old news story about a man who was trapped in an elevator for 41 hours. Relatively short chapters, lots of dialogue. I'm thinking maybe around three to five chapters total. Rated T for somewhat suggestive themes.**

****Also, this story takes place sometime between Seasons 1 and 2. I might include a bit of romance as well, but the pairings are undecided (though I'm leaning toward some implied Jori, Bade, and Cabbie). Enjoy!****

**-CCM**

* * *

Chapter 1

"Oh my gosh, that was _amazing_!" Tori Vega gushed as she made her way down the darkened city streets of Los Angeles, her group of best friends from Hollywood Arts trailing right behind her. The tall, somewhat lanky girl patted her contentedly full stomach and laughed, flipping her long, wavy chocolate-brown hair over her shoulder as she walked and letting it blow gently in the warm summery breeze of the night.

"I know, right? _Soooo_ good!" little redheaded Cat Valentine replied excitedly as she jogged to catch up with the longer-legged Tori, nearly tripping over a crack in the sidewalk in her sky-high stiletto heels and flailing her arms out wildly to steady herself. However, her stumble didn't deter her cheerfulness one bit. "Oh… My tummy is so happy, I think I might sing!"

"Please don't." Jade West glanced down at Cat in scornful amusement, her perfectly manicured and pierced eyebrows raised. Okay, maybe they weren't all _best_ friends, Tori decided, but they could get along for the most part. Though Jade definitely liked to stretch their loose definition of "friends" when it suited her.

Beside her, André Harris laughed loudly. "Ya know, that was probably one of the best meals I have ever eaten in my life… That fettuccine alfredo was the bomb."

The gang had just spent their Saturday evening at a new restaurant, Vertigo, that had just opened up in town. Featuring a menu full of pastas, succulent seafood dishes, baskets of fresh-baked bread, signature soups and salads, and mouthwatering desserts, all at a rather reasonable price, considering, their dining experience that night had been to die for. And the classy atmosphere was a definite plus – with its wavy, dimly-lit ceiling spreading light over the diners in different shades of blue, purple, and red, and the colorful abstract artwork lining the walls, the dining room made one feel almost dizzy with vertigo, but in a good way.

Curly-haired and bespectacled Robbie Shapiro nodded in agreement with André's words as his puppet Rex, perched on his shoulder, added, "Well, I _know_ that was the best tiramisu _I've _ever eaten."

Jade turned her head over her shoulder and looked the puppet up and down dubiously. "What are you talking about? Puppets don't even eat! Do they?"

Robbie quickly shushed her with a frantic, indistinguishable hand motion. "Don't use the _p_ word," he hissed. "Rex doesn't like it."

"What don't I like?" Rex asked, distracted, just as Cat cluelessly interjected, "The _p _word? You mean pancakes?"

"_Yes_, Cat," Jade rolled her eyes, her voice dripping with sarcasm, "I mean pancakes."

"Where did we park again?" Dark-haired and handsome Beck Oliver finally interrupted the increasingly random conversation as the group entered the shady parking ramp where they had parked their car. The lot on the bottom floor was completely empty, not a car to be seen, and the few dim yellow lights over their heads flickered ominously.

"Level four," Jade responded, looping one arm around her boyfriend's as she looked up at him sweetly. Just ahead of them, Tori stifled an exaggerated gag.

Without further thought, the tall brunette marched forward and aggressively pushed the button to the side of the parking ramp elevator in the corner of the lot. The doors opened right away, spreading sickly yellow-tinged light over the darkened space. Tori hopped in and immediately studied her reflection in the mirror on the back wall as the others joined her, squeezing themselves into the tiny room.

"Ick, do I really look like this? Or is it just this terrible lighting?" She ran a hand through her hair as she frowned at the dark circles just barely visible under her eyes.

Behind her, Jade snorted and pushed the numbered button on the elevator for the fourth floor before wrapping her arms around her boyfriend Beck's waist. "No… you really look like that."

Tori merely rolled her eyes in response as the elevator lurched into motion. She set one hand against the elevator wall to steady herself, a bit nervously. Something about the slow, jerky way the elevator moved made her feel inexplicably apprehensive…

She watched the floor numbers displayed over the elevator door tick by one by one. _One… Two… Thr-_

The elevator abruptly staggered to a halt. Six pairs of eyes darted around at the elevator walls, accompanied by distinctly worried expressions and anxious questions.

"What…?"

"Are we on the top floor already?"

"_No_…" Glancing back up at the floor number over the door, Tori saw that they had stopped somewhere _between_ floors two and three.

Without warning, the lights flickered out, and the entire elevator was plunged into pitch darkness.

Immediately, a high-pitched, feminine scream echoed throughout the tiny room, causing everyone else in the surrounding area to flinch and cover their ears.

"_Cat_!"

"I'm _sorry_!" Cat squealed. "I'm sorry, it just surprised me!"

There was a soft flurry of movement, and then Cat spoke up again, "…I'm scared."

"Ow, Cat! _Please_, will you get off of me!" Apparently, the red-haired girl had fearfully grabbed Jade by the arm, who had the luck of being the person nearest to her.

Suddenly, the lights came back on, though they were significantly dimmer this time around.

"Oh, _thank you_!" Robbie gasped from his position on the floor, earning him a sneering laugh from his puppet, who was perched upon his lap.

Beck stepped forward and forcefully pulled at the elevator doors, but to no avail. He couldn't get a proper grip on the shiny, smooth metallic surface, and the door refused to budge under his hands. "It won't open!"

"What about the emergency button?" André spoke up. "I think this constitutes an emergency."

Beck immediately turned to the panel of buttons to the right of the elevator door. He quickly located the large red one with the picture of an alarm bell on the bottom right corner of the panel, and slammed it down with his thumb. Nothing happened.

"I… I think it's broken."

"Oh… Well, perhaps you could try the 'door open' button?" André offered. "Maybe if we can get the doors to open, we might be able to just climb onto the nearest floor."

Beck hit that button too, but again, nothing happened. "…I don't think any of the buttons are going to do anything. In fact, I think we're lucky the lights are even on."

"Well, this is just _great_." Jade flung her arms up in exasperation.

"…Does this mean we're trapped?" Cat whimpered, her innocent, deep brown eyes wide with fear.

Tori's brown eyes widened as well, and she quickly over to pull her Pear Phone out of her purse with shaking hands. "Umm… Here, let me just call Trina… Maybe she can do something. She might still be in the area - she had a mani-pedi appointment just down the street a little while ago, from what I remember."

Jade snorted derisively, attempting to hide her inner discomfort at the entire situation. "Trina? What is _Trina_ gonna do? I say call nine-one-one."

She glanced over at Tori, who was staring, unmoving, at the phone in her hand. "_Well_?"

"There… there's no service." Tori muttered.

Jade frowned at her. "What the chiz do you mean, no service?!"

"Well, it means th-"

"I _know_ what it means!" Jade interrupted Beck angrily, whipping around to glare at him with piercing eyes. He bit his lip and leaned back against the elevator wall, arms folded coolly over his chest as his girlfriend groaned in defeat and kicked at the wall. "Stupid Pear Phone. _Stupid _elevator!"

"Here, let me try mine…." André spoke up helpfully, and whipped out his own cell phone. Within seconds, his face fell. "…Nope."

Everyone else in the elevator did the same, with the same results. It seemed that none of the cell phones were working.

"So… that's it? We're stuck here?" Jade asked bitterly, forcing herself to keep calm, if only for her boyfriend's sake. Tori shrugged, her eyes wide, and beside her, André nodded solemnly.

"We're doomed!" Robbie suddenly shouted in a panic. Standing next to him, Cat let out a fearful squeal.

"Ah, shut up, Robbie," Rex reprimanded his owner. "Geez, you're worse than a female."

The dummy turned his head toward Tori suggestively. "Speaking of females…"

Tori shot both Rex and Robbie a scandalized look, her tone firm as she spoke. "_No_."

"What the heck, Robbie?" Jade glared daggers at the bespectacled boy. "Control your puppet!"

"_Hey_-" Rex started, irritated at being called a puppet, but Robbie interrupted his complaint with a nervous apology.

"I'm sorry!" To the puppet, he said in a loud whisper, "_Rex_, what did I tell you about that!"

"Just… shut up, _please_!" Tori finally called out, unable to take it anymore. Loud voices in a confined space were _not _a good mix. She pressed her fingers to her temples. "You're all driving me crazy! And who knows how long we'll be stuck here…"

They all sat in silence for a few seconds to let the realization sink in.

"This is all _your_ fault, Vega," Jade suddenly spat as she turned to glare at the tall brunette, who had her back against the wall, her eyes closed.

"_Hey!_" Tori quickly whipped around to face Jade with a look of indignation. "What did _I _do?"

Jade folded her arms as she looked Tori up and down, smirking at the other girl's shimmery silver cocktail dress. "Well, if you hadn't-"

"Jade." Beck interrupted her, putting one hand on his girlfriend's shoulder to try and calm her. "It's nobody's fault. It was just an accident. A really weird and completely unexpected accident, yeah, but an accident, nonetheless. I mean, how were any of us supposed to know that this elevator would break down?"

André nodded hopefully. "Yeah… And we might not have cell phone service here, but someone will find us eventually. I mean, someone else has to use this elevator _sometime_, right?"

"Yeah," Jade retorted angrily, "when we're all dead. You _saw _how deserted this stupid parking ramp is. There's nobody here, and there won't be for a _long_ time!"

The entire group turned to stare at her, even Rex, and Jade shrugged. "What? I'm just saying. We're probably going to die here!"

Tori narrowed her eyes at the gothic girl. "No… No, we won't. Because people will realize that we're missing, and so we'll get out of here, and it will all be just fine and dandy, okay?"

"Okay, whatever you say, Vega…" Jade sighed, leaning back against the wall, "But you can't deny that the oxygen in this room will only last so long…"

"Ugh! Nobody needs your negativity at the moment! In fact, I don't know _how_ Beck manages to put up with you!" Tori clapped a hand to her mouth as soon as she said it, her coffee-colored eyes wide and fearful as she realized just what she had said, and to whom. She timidly glanced at Beck, standing just behind Jade with his hand on her waist, and he shrugged. Everyone else just looked shocked at the outburst.

"That's none of your business, _Tori_." Jade frowned, her blue-green eyes sparkling lethally, outlined in thick black eyeliner. "But for your infor-"

"Hey, let's all just calm down for a bit, okay?" André interrupted, slouching onto the floor. "…Okay. Let's just… have some quiet time. You're all giving me a headache, and I didn't bring any aspirin."

Jade rolled her eyes. "Sorry," she huffed, and she and Beck settled down on the floor as well, his arm draped over her shoulders as he murmured quietly into her ear.

Tori shrugged and carefully joined the others on the floor, taking a seat beside Cat, who was sitting against the wall with her knees hugged to her chest despite wearing a short, hot pink party dress. At least she had the sense to wear a pair of comfy shorts underneath her dress, unlike Tori, who was now finding it extremely difficult to find a semi-comfortable position on the floor without showing off her underwear to everyone else in the elevator.

It seemed they were in for a long night, Tori sighed to herself as she checked the time on her Pear Phone. It was about ten thirty, already getting late, but they had no way to get home… her own parents weren't even home to miss her, as they had left on a business trip together over the weekend, and Trina would probably just assume that she was sleeping over at a friend's house and forgot to tell her, as many of her friend's families might also suspect.

In fact, Tori fretted, their absence might not even be noticed until they didn't show up for school on Monday morning… if, of course, it took that long. But according to the sign outside, this particular parking ramp was closed on Sundays, so their chances of rescue by tomorrow were slim.

Might as well become resigned to the fact that they're all stuck.

* * *

**A/N: Thank you for reading! This is really nothing serious – it's a pretty old fic of mine that I decided to edit a bit and post, so I just hope it brings you some amusement. I'm not really sure if I should continue with it, though, so reviews would be awesome!**

**-CCM**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"… You know, this really, _really _stinks." Beck sighed, brushing his attractively disheveled dark hair out of his face with one hand as his girlfriend Jade leaned into his chest, absentmindedly fiddling with the buttons on his black flannel overshirt.

"Yeah," Tori nodded in agreement, a discouraged expression on her face, "_and_ we have that group script project due for Sikowitz on Monday, and how are we supposed to finish it when we're stuck here?"

Jade snorted. "We're literally trapped in a freakin' elevator, and you're worried about writing some silly little script for school? I think that's the least of our worries at the moment."

Tori crossed her arms over her chest grumpily. "Well, excuse me for not wanting to fail a class."

"Well… why can't we work on it here?" Robbie suggested brightly. The others exchanged less than enthusiastic looks.

"No thanks."

"Nah, I'm good."

Robbie frowned. "It was just an idea…"

His puppet Rex, perched comfortably on his lap, turned around and laughed at him. "Which just goes to show that all your ideas are _dumb_."

Tori quickly shook her head in an attempt to console her curly-haired friend. "No, Robbie, it's not a dumb idea at all… We just don't have a pen, or paper… and, well, I'm sure Sikowitz would understand the situation if he knew about it, anyway."

"Yeah," Beck added, "and maybe if we're stuck here for a while, we can use it as an excuse not to do it."

"…That's _not _what I was going to say, but whatever," Tori shrugged.

"Does anyone have any _food_?" Jade asked very suddenly, glancing around insolently as she sat back against the dingy elevator wall, kicking her feet up against the opposite side. "I'm flipping starving!"

"Hey, that's actually a good idea!" André said. "Let's go through and see what food and/or drinks everyone has on them." His voice wavered ominously as he added, "Who knows how long we might need to hold out… we should pile everything we have together and save up on the necessities."

"Okay…" Robbie turned and began digging around in the large black bag that was slung over his shoulder.

"Why do you have a purse?" Rex asked him, craning his head around to stare at the curly-haired boy, who blushed angrily in response.

"It-it's a _satchel_!" He sputtered. Beside him, Cat giggled girlishly as she twirled a strand of her red velvet hair around her finger.

"I like your purse, Robbie," she said happily, smiling at him. He merely groaned in response and ignored the compliment.

"Anyway," he huffed, "I've got… one bottle of Wahoo Punch."

Tori nodded encouragingly. "That's good… What flavor is it?"

"Um…" He adjusted his glasses to inspect the label plastered on the plastic bottle. "Papaya, I think?"

"Ugh." Jade groaned, slapping a hand to her forehead dramatically. "Gross. That's my least favorite flavor."

"And…" He pulled another item from his bag. "I have a whole grain oat and raisin granola bar."

"_Ugh." _Jade groaned again, even louder this time. "Don't you have anything _good_? Like, I don't know, chips or cookies or something? Your food contributions suck."

"Hey…" Robbie frowned, "It's a light and nutritious snack for on-the go-."

"_I don't care."_

Robbie turned away and exchanged a bemused glance with Rex. "Looks like _someone_ woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. Geez."

"I think I might have something, too…" Cat spoke up, and she began rifling through her own purse to see what snacks she might have brought. "Oh! I have a bottle of Grizzly Glue!"

"Well, we can't _eat_ that, so what good does it do?" Jade complained loudly as she picked at her black nail polish, while Tori asked, confused, "_Why_ do you carry around a bottle of Grizzly Glue in your purse?"

Cat shrugged. "I don't know… in case I need to glue stuff."

"Well, that makes… sense, I guess," Robbie reasoned, though he looked just as baffled by it as the others.

"I also have some yummy lollipops… _And_ a king-size chocolate bar!" Cat suddenly called out, her face alight with glee as she pulled her hand from her large purple purse and waved the large wrapped candy bar around in the air.

"Really? Let me see that!" Jade rudely snatched the chocolate bar from the redheaded girl's hand and inspected it. "Hmm… oh, dark chocolate raspberry! Nice!"

"Hey!" Cat sniffed. "That's mine, Jadey!"

Jade immediately flinched at the nickname. "Ugh. _Please_ do not call me that, Cat," she hissed.

"Jade…" Beck reprimanded his girlfriend gently, brushing back a loose strand of dyed hair from her face, "give the candy bar back to Cat. It's rude to grab."

"Fine." Jade rolled her eyes and chucked the bar of chocolate back at Cat, who caught it in both hands and held it to her chest as if she were frightened that someone else would try and take it from her.

"So, what kind of lollipops do you have?" André asked, turning toward Cat, who smiled happily, all her worries forgotten at the mention of lollipops.

"Let's see…" She opened her purse again to count the lollipops within, pulling them out one by one. "I have one orange, two red… two purple, and one green."

"Okay…" André said as he glanced around at the food they had gathered together so far, counting it all up quickly in his head. "So we have… one bottle of papaya Wahoo Punch, one nasty, healthy granola bar, one king-sized dark chocolate raspberry candy bar, and six lollipops."

"And one bottle of Grizzly Glue!" Cat added cheerfully, before she was silenced by a death stare from Jade.

André still looked worried. "Doesn't anyone at least have some water?" he asked, his eyebrows furrowed in thought.

Tori nodded and bent to open her own designer purse. "I always carry an extra bottle of water with me, in case my throat gets dry."

"I always carry one bottle of water with me in case my throat gets dry," Jade mocked Tori, imitating her voice in a sweet-sounding faux accent. The brunette girl shot her a furious glare.

"I do _not _talk like that!" She irritably located the bottle of water in her purse and slammed it down on the floor.

Robbie, meanwhile, frowned at their small collection of food and groaned. "That's not very much… Ugh, I could really go for some Inside Out Burger…"

"Mmm, yeah…" Tori sighed in agreement, her frustration waning, "or a double coconut vanilla fudge swirl ice cream in a chocolate dipped waffle cone from Freezy Queen…"

"Well," Cat interjected, not wanting to be left out, "_I_ really really want a red velvet cupcake right now… with yummy cream filling and swirly white frosting on top, too, and little pink sprinkles shaped like cute baby hearts-"

"Guys, come on!" André interrupted, exasperated. "We just went out to dinner barely three hours ago!"

"Yeah, and that was great, but now I'm hungry again," Robbie whined.

"Well... control your hunger!" André picked up one of the lollipops from the pile and tossed it at the curly-haired boy, where it landed softly in his lap beside Rex. "There's your share of the lollipops… there's one for each of us. But once you eat that, you're done, because we're saving this other stuff."

He leaned back against the wall, and for a few minutes, the entire group sat quietly, avoiding each other's eyes. The only sound came from Robbie, who was twirling his grape-flavored lollipop between his fingers, causing the plastic wrapper to crinkle with every slight movement.

"I-I need to use the toilet…" Cat whispered out of the blue, breaking their short-lived moment of silence.

Beck raised his eyebrows at her. "Well… there _is_ no toilet here."

"But-"

Rolling her eyes, Jade quickly interrupted the red-haired girl. "I _told_ you to go in the restaurant before we left."

"But I didn't."

"Of course you didn't."

"What's _that_ supposed to mean?"

"Stop it!" Tori interrupted, somewhat frantically. "Cat… just, um, try to hold it in for now, okay?"

Cat nodded her head solemnly. "I-I'll try…" she said dubiously.

The brunette girl sighed and exchanged a look with André. "Let's just… try to sleep for now, all right? Maybe someone will come for us in the morning."

"I really, _really _need to pee."

"I know that, Cat, but… but if you go to sleep, maybe you won't remember how much you have to pee, and the time will go by faster…" Tori glanced around the room hopefully, looking for reassurance and finding none.

However, it was good enough of an idea for Cat, who smiled sweetly at Tori as she obeyed her friend's proposal, curling up on the floor in her favorite sleeping position. "Kay kay."

"…Why don't we all just go to sleep now?" André suggested. "It's getting pretty late, and we don't have anything better to do now, anyway."

He looked around and found that Jade and Beck were already sound asleep in each other's arms, their backs to the wall. Robbie sleepily nodded in agreement and began to doze off almost immediately, too, and so André shrugged and turned over on his side to find his own comfortable position in the crowded space.

Tori decided to try and get some sleep, too. But sleep was easier said than done, she found, especially while wearing a short, scratchy, skintight dress in a dirty, cramped elevator with five other people. Eventually, however, she too managed to drift off to sleep, as well…

* * *

**A/N: Thanks for reading so far! I think this story will lean toward humor for the most part, though I've planned for something dramatic to happen later on! But if you have any comments, questions, or concerns regarding the story, please feel free to leave a review!**

**-CCM**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: More elevator shenanigans coming right up! Short chapter, but the next one should be longer!**

**-CCM**

* * *

Chapter 3

Tori Vega stirred in her sleep. She had been having such a wonderful dream… if only she could remember just what it was about.

Her eyes fluttered open. _Huh?... Where am I?_ she wondered curiously, her mind still heavy with sleep as her eyes darted around the room, taking in the four dingy mirrored walls that surrounded her. And there was an arm wrapped around her waist…

She turned drowsily to find herself face to face with a puppet, grinning creepily at her.

"Arrrghh!" She jolted upright, now wide awake. "Wha- Robbie?"

Somehow, Robbie had managed to find his way to Tori's side at some point in the night, and his arm was haphazardly draped over her stomach while his puppet Rex sat right next to her head, in a prime spot to startle her awake. Now, however, Robbie had also been startled awake by Tori's cry of surprise, his dark brown eyes wide with concern behind his glasses as he jumped away from her and stared at her groggily.

"Geez, Tori, what the heck?"

"I'm sorry." Tori shook her head, already beginning to fall back asleep as the initial shock ebbed away. "Just, go back to sleep, or something…"

"And move over, please," the brunette added, a bit more forcefully, as she settled back down on the floor.

"S-sorry," Robbie muttered, embarrassed, and he lifted Rex and retreated to the far corner of the elevator.

* * *

Hours after that awkward little incident, Tori Vega opened her chocolate brown eyes sluggishly for the second time and looked around. For a moment, a feeling of panic bubbled deep within her chest when she realized that she wasn't nestled in the comfort of her warm, fluffy bed, but after fully taking in her unfamiliar surroundings she remembered what had happened the night before, and where she was now. The panic died down only slightly.

Cat Valentine lay asleep on Tori's left, curled up on her side in a tight ball like her namesake, and André Harris lay on his back just next to her, spread across the floor with his feet against the elevator door. In one corner, Beck Oliver lay with one arm wrapped around Jade West, her dyed black hair plastered to her forehead as she snored gently, and in the other corner, next to their makeshift pile of provisions, Robbie Shapiro sat upright in a rather uncomfortable-looking position with his eyes tightly closed, hugging Rex to his chest.

Still sleepy, Tori clumsily dug around in her designer purse for her Pear Phone. The little clock in the corner of the screen read 5:23 AM, not that the time really mattered anyway, since she still didn't have any service and to top it off, the phone was about to die. _Have we really been stuck in this elevator all night?_ She wondered. The thought wasn't so good.

"Hey, Tori…" A drawling female voice startled her from her thoughts, "Nice panties."

Tori jolted upright, now wide awake, and looked down to see that her dress had moved on her body sometime in the night, twisted in such a way that her bright pink underwear, patterned with colorful little bears, was now completely exposed in the most humiliating manner. Quickly, she tugged at the sparkly fabric, stretching it back down over her legs to cover herself, but not before Jade could sneer at her predicament.

"Wow, Vega," Jade snickered cruelly, "I thought you would have outgrown Care Bears what, ten years ago?"

Tori slapped a hand to her forehead in frustration. _Why_ did the most embarrassing things always have to happen to her? Luckily, it seemed that none of the others had seen, other than Jade. Actually, maybe that wasn't lucky at all.

"Look, Jade," Tori tried to explain quickly and quietly, without waking the others and embarrassing herself even further, "my stupid sister Trina tried to wash too many clothes at once and ended up breaking the washing machine just after my parents left for the weekend, and so this was the only clean pair of underwear of mine that I could find…"

Seeing the vaguely amused look on Jade's face, she begged her, "_Please_, just- don't tell anyone about this, okay? Promise me you won't, Jade?"

Jade smirked as her boyfriend began to stir beside her, and with a wink she said, "I promise… This'll be our little secret, right?"

"Uh, right..." Tori nodded uneasily; she still had a very bad feeling about that look Jade had on her face.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the room, André had begun to stir as well, and he stretched his arms behind his head only to hit them against the bar on the wall of the elevator. "Huh?"

Apparently, he was suffering from the same moment of confusion that Tori had experienced when she first woke up. The brunette managed a smile and greeted him in a cheerful tone that sounded utterly faked. "Good morning, André."

"Hey, Tori..." He glanced around. "So… we're still in this elevator, huh?"

"Uh huh," she nodded.

"Darn it."

Over in the corner, Beck yawned and ruffled his dark hair with one hand. Jade quickly bent closer to give her boyfriend a good morning kiss, which lasted quite a bit longer than Tori would have liked to see.

"Okay, guys… Guys?" She interjected uselessly, as Jade and Beck merely deepened their kiss. Tori rolled her eyes exaggeratedly and turned toward André, who looked a bit uncomfortable.

"So, André…" Her eyes trailed over the sleeping forms of Cat and Robbie (and Rex), who showed no signs of waking, and she gestured toward them. "Should we wake them up, too?"

André shook his head. "Nah… let 'em sleep. It's not like they have anything good to wake up to, anyway." He vaguely waved a hand in the direction of Jade and Beck, who had just broken away from their kiss.

"So…" Jade began, readjusting the leather jacket she wore over her lace-trimmed black dress and thick leggings, "Anyone got breakfast ready? I'm hungry."

"Yeah," André picked the granola bar up off their food pile ad threw it at her. "Here. Enjoy. Bon appétit."

Jade glared at the granola bar's wrapper. "Ugh. I hate whole grain oat and raisin."

Tori rolled her eyes. "Then don't eat it!" she snapped. Jade quickly silenced her with a death stare.

"Nah, I think I will, Vega," she said, tearing into the wrapper without breaking eye contact with Tori, "…unless you want to give me a reason to-"

"No, that's okay," Tori interrupted, hoping that the conversation would not be steered to the topic of her own embarrassing choices in underwear, "but really, we should probably share that… It's the only real food we have, other than chocolate, lollipops, and Wahoo Punch."

"Fine. Makes sense." Jade sighed and bit off a piece of the granola bar, making a disgusted face as she did so. She passed it to her boyfriend, who bit off another piece of the bar and offered it to Tori. Tori carefully broke off her own piece and passed it to André, who forced himself to ignore the fact that it was already contaminated by Jade, Beck, and Tori, and bit into it before setting it back on the top of their provisions pile.

"I figure we should save the rest for Robbie and Cat when they wake up."

Beck shrugged. "Sounds fair enough."

His girlfriend nodded in agreement, though she really didn't look as though she were fully agreeing with him. "Whatever happened to you snooze, you lose?" she muttered under her breath as her stomach let out a grumble.

Beck gave his girlfriend a teasing shove in the shoulder. "Come on, babe. Lighten up a bit."

Jade snorted. "Lighten up? You want _me_ to lighten up?"

"Well, yeah…" Beck distractedly stroked the top of Jade's hand with his own, "It sure isn't helping our situation, being so negative all the time. We kinda have to work together to get through this."

"Whatever," she huffed in response, crossing her legs in annoyance, "Sorry I'm not a happy little ray of sunshine when it comes to being stuck in a dirty, cramped elevator with no room to stretch out even the slightest bit, no good food to eat, and absolutely _nothing_ to do. Because this is _exactly _how I wanted to spend my weekend."

"…When are you _ever_ a happy little ray of sunshine?" Tori asked in a loud whisper, one eyebrow raised questioningly. However, instead of getting angry with her, Jade merely smiled darkly.

"I'm starting to think you really get me, Vega."

At that moment, Cat began to stir from her position on the ground beside Tori. She slowly opened her large brown eyes and then looked around the room wildly, as if frightened. "What? Where am I?"

"Um... You're in the elevator, remember?" Tori gently reminded the sleepy doe-eyed girl, resting her hand on Cat's arm in a comforting manner. "But don't worry, it's okay, we're all here..."

Cat's face fell. "Oh..."

She sadly twirled a lock of her bright red hair around her finger. "I'm hungry... and I still have to go to the bathroom," she whispered.

"We saved some of Robbie's granola bar for you," André said helpfully, waving the bar around with one hand. "And, uh... about the other thing... I guess you'll just have to wait a little longer if you can, Little Red."

Cat sighed as she unenthusiastically took the granola bar from André, staring down at her feet as she did so, much like an unhappy toddler. "Kay."

Jade raised an eyebrow as she stared at her normally optimistic and easily excitable little friend. "What's bugging you, Cat?"

"Nothing..."

"Oh, come on," Jade said, half exasperated and half concerned, "There's obviously something wrong. You're not acting like... well, like Cat."

Cat crossed her arms over her chest. "I-I want to go home," she replied sadly.

Jade's face softened just a bit, and she immediately turned to dig something out of her large metal-studded black leather purse. "Here," she said, tossing a thin, rolled-up paperback book and a small box of crayons at the red haired girl. "Why don't you color a pretty picture for all of us, and then we can hang it up on the wall to make the room look... nicer?"

Cat's expression immediately brightened. "Yay! I love coloring!" she sang. "I love how all the crayons come in such bright, pretty, happy colors." She cheerfully opened the book to a picture of a unicorn and dug a vibrant purple crayon out of the box to color it with as the others looked on in amazement.

"Thanks, Jade," Cat added quietly as she doodled flowers on the unicorn's flank, and Tori turned to stare at Jade, eyebrows raised.

"Really?" Tori mouthed, surprised by the dark girl's sudden benevolence. Jade merely smiled in response and directed her own attention back to her boyfriend.

* * *

**A/N: Thank you guys for reading, it really does mean a lot to me! And please leave a review if you have anything to say about the story so far! :)**

**CCM**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: So, this next chapter isn't the most original, I admit, but it was funny to write either way! Thank you for the reviews so far, and to my guest reviewer, I'm not really sure how they could get more food and drinks when they're stuck in an elevator, haha. Unless someone had something else in their bag that they forgot about earlier (or didn't want to share).**

**-CCM**

* * *

Chapter 4

Within the hour, the dingy walls of the elevator had been decorated with colorful pictures of cute animals torn out of Cat's coloring book, stuck on the mirrored surface over their heads with clear tape from a roll that Cat herself had stored in her purse. Joining the flowered pink and purple unicorn was a striped orange cat with big blue eyes, a golden floppy eared puppy, a pale spotted bunny munching on a carrot, and a parrot in all shades of the rainbow.

Robbie had also finally woken up, and he and Cat shared the remains of the oat and raisin granola bar after Cat had gotten tired of coloring. Then André opened their lone bottle of Wahoo Punch and passed it around so that everyone could get a sip; he figured it would be best to save the water as long as possible. Their pile of food was dwindling quickly, and still there was no sign of rescue.

Plus, Cat was still complaining that she had to pee, but there was nothing anyone could really do about it, so she just continued to look _very_ uncomfortable. Eventually, though, they would all have to use the bathroom, and… well, Tori didn't want to think about that until the time came.

"I'm bored…" Robbie finally sighed, after the group had sat around staring at each other and sipping on papaya Wahoo Punch for the past hour and a half.

André stopped nervously tapping his foot on the floor and looked over at his curly haired friend. "Well… I don't know. Maybe we could play a game?"

"Ooohhh, I love games!" Cat squealed, her interest immediately piqued. "What kind of game?"

"Well, Little Red... I'm not really sure. Anyone got any ideas?"

"Hmm…" Robbie wondered aloud. "Maybe we could play-"

"Let's play truth or dare," his puppet, Rex, interjected.

"Whaaat?" Tori exclaimed, whipping around to give the dummy a bewildered look, her eyebrows raised. "What would you want to play that for?"

"Yeah, what are we, middle schoolers?" Jade added as she picked at a fingernail with disinterest.

"Well, why _not_?" Rex asked, and Tori stared at him.

"For one thing, you're just a puppet…" she began, and Rex looked as offended as any puppet could possibly look.

"You don't know what I got!"

"And _secondly_," Tori added, ignoring his objections, "I just don't see the appeal of playing truth or dare in... _this_ sort of situation."

André, however, shrugged. "I don't know… I mean, I don't see why not. It's not like we have anything better to do. Would you rather just sit around and stare at each other for a few more hours?"

Tori sighed. "Okay, fine, you got me. We'll all play."

"So… How should we do this?" Beck asked.

"Well, one of us can go first and pick a person to ask 'truth or dare', and then that person can pick another person to ask, and so on." André looked around for agreement. The others nodded their heads and murmured assent. "So… who wants to go first?"

"Oh, I will! Me, me!" Cat waved her hand in the air excitedly. "I'm going to ask… Jade!"

"Well?" Jade paused in her nail inspection to look up at her. "Get on with it, then."

"Oh, yeah…" she giggled airheadedly. "Truth or dare?"

"Eh…" Jade considered the question for a moment. "Truth."

"Hmm…" Cat began to blush slightly, and Tori wondered vaguely what she could possibly be thinking of asking Jade, of all people. "Have… Have you and Beck ever done… the "dirty?""

"The "dirty?"" Jade repeated, somewhat bemused, while the others stifled their smirks. "You mean, have we had sex before?"

Cat nodded innocently, though she was blushing furiously, and refused to meet Jade's eyes. Meanwhile, André stared at the couple in question, his expression lightly teasing.

"Well… have you?" he asked.

After a quick glance at Beck sitting behind her, his expression giving away nothing, Jade responded with a wry grin. "Of course."

"Really?" Robbie asked, a little too curiously. Jade glared at him.

"Well, duh. Why would I lie about that?"

"Yeah, come on," Rex joined in on goading Robbie, "Can't you just _tell_ that Jade and Beck-"

"My turn," Jade purposely interrupted the puppet's question in a singsong voice. "And I choose… Cat."

"Um… can you choose the same person that just asked you? Is that even allowed?" Robbie questioned, but was immediately silenced by the glare that Jade gave him.

"I can do what I want. And I pick Cat. Truth or dare?"

"Um… truth… no, dare!" Cat stammered.

"Okay…" Jade's eyes glinted almost cruelly as she replied, without pause, "Kiss Robbie."

"What?" Cat blushed as deep red as her hair, and Robbie himself didn't look much better off at Jade's suggestion. "Huh?"

"You heard me. Kiss him."

At Jade's demand, Cat and Robbie glanced at each other awkwardly, unsure as to what they should do while everyone else watched them expectantly.

"Um…"

"Er…"

"We don't have all day," Jade laughed, as if she was actually enjoying tormenting the two in such a manner.

"Well, we might," Beck whispered to her.

"Whatever," Jade snapped back at him, "I could have asked her to do worse. Much worse, which is saying something, considering… you know, Robbie."

"Hey-" Robbie began to speak up indignantly in his own defense, but was suddenly interrupted as Cat pressed her lips to his in a kiss. And instead of pulling away, they got closer, Robbie running one hand through Cat's red velvety hair as the girl rested her own palm against his chest.

"Whoa, slow down there!" Rex cautioned, and Tori immediately wondered how the puppet could speak while Robbie was… busy, something that she could tell the others were wondering, too, judging from the confused expressions on their faces. But perhaps it was best to leave that matter alone.

Robbie and Cat finally pulled away, each bright pink in the face and refusing to meet the other's eyes.

"Anyway…" Robbie stammered, still blushing crimson after his close encounter with Cat, "I, uh, think I'll go next… yes…" He quickly coughed to clear his throat.

"How about…" Robbie's eyes darted around the confined space, and landed on Tori. "Tori?"

"Okay…" Tori responded, looking at her curly-haired friend expectantly.

"So… truth or dare?"

"Truth."

"Um…" Robbie looked around the room hopelessly, his mind still too distracted by Cat to think up a good question for Tori, so his puppet Rex took over for him.

"You kissed Beck, didn't you, Tori? On your first day at Hollywood Arts?"

"Um… Yes…?" Tori answered nervously, as Jade stared daggers at her. Beside Jade, Beck showed no emotion but for a raised eyebrow.

"Well… Did you like it?" The puppet seemed to sneer at her as he continued his question. "Was it… _enjoyable_?"

"Oh! Well… er..." Tori closed one eye and focused the other on Jade, looking as apologetic as she could manage, but mostly scared.

"Watch it, Vega," Jade mouthed at her dangerously.

"Um… Yes… I guess?" the brunette squeaked, her cheeks flushing pink. Jade glared at her while the others laughed.

"Er, I pick André," Tori said quickly, eager to quickly change the subject. "Truth or dare?"

André pondered for a moment. "Dare, I guess."

Tori thought for a long time. What could she possibly dare her best friend to do? She always sucked at deciding on dares… Her eyes wandered around the cramped elevator as everyone else stared at her expectantly.

"Come on, Vega," Jade taunted, "What are you waiting for? Dare him already."

"Um… I dare André to, uh…" She looked around the room frantically, and her eyes landed on the railing connected to the elevator wall." Lick the railing!"

"Lick the railing…?" André repeated slowly, bemused. "Gross, but, okay…" He turned around and quickly pressed his tongue to the railing behind him, then wiped it on his sleeve with a disgusted look on his face.

"Ew," Cat giggled lightly as she watched him, while Jade sighed and glared at Tori. "Really? That's the best you could come up with?"

"All right then," André began, before the brunette could respond, "it's my turn. I choose… Beck. Truth or dare?"

"Truth," Beck replied, almost lazily.

André thought for a while. "So… what are you most afraid of?"

Beck sighed and immediately responded, as if he had already considered this question before, "Losing the one person I care most about."

"Cliché," Rex hissed, but he was silenced by a scathing look from Robbie.

"Anyway, my turn. I pick Jade." Jade's eyes widened in surprise as Beck turned to his girlfriend. She smirked at him as he asked, "Truth or dare?"

"Dare me."

"Kiss me."

Jade almost laughed out loud. "That's _it_? You want me to kiss you?"

Beck gave her a look.

"Okay, okay..." The couple quickly kissed, and when they finally pulled away, Jade continued, a smile on her face.

"My turn again. I choose Tori," Jade said without a moment's hesitation, her blue-green eyes glittering coldly, and Tori felt a sense of panic rise in her chest. After admitting that she enjoyed kissing Beck, what would Jade do to get back at her? Tori didn't want to find out.

"Truth or dare?"

"Truth," Tori answered. After all, Jade couldn't ask her anything _too_ embarrassing, right?

Jade smiled at her in a sickeningly sweet way that let Tori know for sure that something bad was coming to her. "Is it true… that you're wearing a pair of pink Care Bear panties right now?"

"Hey!" Tori shouted angrily, before she could stop to think. "You said you wouldn't tell anyone!"

"_I _didn't," Jade smirked, as the others quickly turned away to hide their giggles. "_You_ did… Just now."

Tori's eyes widened, and she fought the urge to bang her head against the wall. How could she have been so gullible? Because Jade was right - it was all Tori's fault, and Jade had tricked her into doing it to herself. "Arrgh! That was a low move, even for you!"

"You're wearing _Care Bear_ underwear right now?" Robbie asked her, one hand pressed over his mouth in a failing attempt to hide his laughter. Irritated with the whole situation, Tori smacked him across the face, knocking his glasses off in the process.

"My glasses!" He hurriedly grabbed them from the ground and pressed them back onto his face. "…Geez, Tori, I would have expected that hit from Jade, maybe…"

"As you can see, Robbie is a real hit with the ladies," Rex interjected sarcastically.

"Ugh, whatever," Tori groaned, "just, it's my turn now… and I pick-"

"Hey," Rex interrupted. "I'm playing too, you know."

"Fine, then I pick Rex." She glared at the puppet, trying to look as angry as she could to hide her embarrassment. "Truth or dare?"

The dummy seemed to smirk at her. "Dare."

"I dare you… to shut up for the next three hours. Starting now!" Tori smiled at the puppet, knowing that she had won this round. "So… Who wants lollipops?"

"Oh! Oh! Me! Me!" Cat waved her hand in the air excitedly as Tori gathered up the candy, and the brunette tossed her a cherry red one before selecting a purple lollipop for herself and passing the remaining sweets around the elevator.

"Hopefully this doesn't get Cat on a sugar rush," Jade muttered, her arms crossed her her chest. "I don't think I could handle being in a confined space with her acting any more hyper than she already is on a regular basis."

* * *

**A/N: Thanks for reading so far! Yeah, I know the whole truth or dare thing is rather cliche, but what else are they going to do when they're all stuck in a confined space together? Anyway, more serious stuff should be coming up next, so please leave a review if you have anything to comment on!**

**-CCM**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Wow, I completely forgot about this fic for the longest time! It's just been sitting here in my collection of stories unfinished for _ages_, and that's been bugging me for quite some time now, so I'm just going to finish it off while I still have the free time - there are only a few chapters left, anyway. ****I just hope I still have some readers left who would like to know how the story ends; or perhaps some new readers who are interested! Either way, thanks again for reading, it means a lot to me!**

**-CCM**

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Chapter 5

Nearly an entire day had passed in that dingy, cramped little elevator. Nobody knew what time it actually was, or how much time had passed since they woke up that morning – by then, the entire group's Pear Phones were completely dead, their screens entirely, irreversibly black.

Tori stared at the blank screen on her own phone for what felt like hours, tapping at it absentmindedly with her painted fingernails, wishing it were otherwise; even if she couldn't make a call or surf the web with it here, the glowing light that emanated from the little phone when it was turned on was still strangely comforting, in a way.

She sighed deeply. Heck, forget the time - they could barely even remember what the date was. It almost seemed as though they had been trapped in that stupid elevator for days. And, to make matters even worse, the only food remaining on their pile was a single dark chocolate raspberry candy bar and a bottle of water.

Cat, high on sugar no doubt, had eventually resumed her coloring activity, despite the others' concerns that she would eventually have enough colored pictures torn out of the book to paper all three walls of the elevator, _and_ the door. After each near-sickeningly cute picture was completely colored in to her liking, Cat let out a squeaky giggle, grabbed a piece of tape, and stuck it up on the dirty mirror alongside all of the other pictures she had colored, before settling back down onto the floor, flipping the coloring book open to a new page, and continuing her activity.

As the collection of bright coloring pages on the wall grew, however, Cat's enthusiasm slowly began to dwindle just as her rush of sugar-induced energy did, until finally she half-heartedly taped a hastily scribbled-in picture of a smiling dolphin to the wall with a sigh and sank back down to the floor with a small frown on her face, pushing the crayons and coloring book away from her.

Tori, who had actually started coloring in the book pages along with her little red-headed friend for the time being, dropped the pale orange crayon she was using to color in a happy baby giraffe and stared at the girl, half concerned and half bemused. Beside her, André and Robbie were each sitting against the wall in silence, though their eyes remained open, and the puppet Rex was perched quietly in the latter's lap; Jade and Beck, however, both had their eyes closed, fast asleep as far as anyone could tell.

"Hey, you all right, Cat?"

"I guess… I'm just _sooo_ hungry," Cat whined, her deep brown eyes wide and pleading. "And I really, _really _have to pee. Like, right now."

Tori sighed. "So do I, Cat, but I really don't know how that's going to happen here. Just... see if you can hold on just a teensy bit longer, okay?"

"Okay... I'll try. But I'm serious, I-I think I might pee my pants," the redhead replied uncertainly, and then a very sudden, random thought crossed her mind. "You know, this one time, my brother-"

"Stop. Talking." Jade sat with her back pressed against the elevator wall, eyes still closed and arms folded across her chest. At that moment, she looked utterly miserable, and even with her eyes shut, the dark makeup that still coated her eyelids smudged in various places, she seemed to glare threateningly at the others in the room. It was amazing, the sort of fierce, commanding effect she had on people without even really trying.

"I'm sorry, Jade," Cat squeaked, stealing a nervous glance at her obviously irritated friend who apparently hadn't been sleeping after all. "…Hey, what's this?"

Distracted by something in the corner of the elevator that had caught her eye, Cat leaned over and lifted the old, long-forgotten bottle of Wahoo Punch, which was now filled with a small amount of yellow-tinged liquid. She squinted at the plastic bottle curiously with her head titled to one side, lifting it into the dim yellowish light for a better view. "I didn't know we had any Wahoo Punch left."

"_Don't _drink that!" Tori snatched the bottle from Cat, a somewhat frantic look in her widened eyes, and then quickly dropped it in disgust as though it had burned her hand in the process. André, Robbie, and Rex all exchanged a silent look.

"Wha- oh…" Cat uttered in realization, and then she frowned. "Hey, that's not fair… How come guys can-"

"Cat." Jade opened one menacing eye to glare at the girl directly. "_Please_ stop talking. Right now."

"Jade…" Beck stirred from his halfhearted nap and rubbed his girlfriend's arm soothingly, a concerned look in his dark eyes as he slowly opened them to look at her. "Be nice. Please? For me?"

"Fine." Jade rolled her eyes at her boyfriend's puppy-dog gaze and added, "I'll be 'nice', just for you."

"Well, there's a shocker," Rex muttered under his breath - not that he had any, being a puppet and all. "Jade, _nice_? No way."

"Actually, Rex," Jade began dangerously, her eyes narrowing, "I can be _very_ nice when I want to. Just ask Beck."

The puppet groaned. "No thanks. I do _not _want to know."

The gothic girl was just about to respond with a snappy retort when something else caught her immediate attention. "Ugh…" Jade scrunched up her face in utter disgust, "what is that smell?"

André, who had been near silent in the seemingly unending hours leading up to this point, merely watching the rest of the group from his own corner, sniffed at the air and instantly regretted the decision.

"Oh, man, that is rank," he groaned, lifting his shirt to cover his nose. Tori and Beck quickly followed his lead and did the same.

"_Ugh_."

"Ew, gross!"

"All right, who ripped one?" Rex quickly spoke up, while Robbie just looked completely and utterly embarrassed and Cat let out a girlish giggle before quickly covering up her own nose with one of the finished coloring pages that had unstuck itself and fallen from the wall.

"Rex!" Robbie scolded his puppet while quickly adjusting his glasses, "Could you be any more crude?"

The dummy seemed to stare at the curly-haired teen in a mischievous manner, though nobody was sure exactly how a puppet could manage to look quite so mischievous, just that Rex sure could manage to pull it off somehow.

"Well, I _could," _he teased, "but there are ladies present, so I suppose I won't. And speaking of the ladies, shame on whoever let that one loose! How much less of a gentleman could you be?"

Robbie blushed as scarlet as Cat's hair. "Well, actually..."

"Ugh, man, don't tell me this was you...?" André half laughed, half coughed. "You don't do that kind of thing in an enclosed space! You just don't!"

"Well... I couldn't help it!"

"Robbie _stinks," _Cat giggled, a picture of a pair of pastel seahorses with intertwined tails crumpled against her face to mask the smell, though her intentions were not at all mean-spirited in the slightest.

Jade's intentions, however, were.

The black-haired girl rolled her eyes dramatically, heaving a great sigh. "I should have known it would be _you_, Shapiro."

"I'm sorry! Don't hurt me, Jade, please." Robbie cowered in the corner so pathetically, even Rex couldn't contain his laughter. "I'm too young to die! I still have a long life ahead of me!"

Jade grinned, too, though hers was more just plain scary rather than amused or even mocking, as one of her hands clasped at the studded leather purse slung over her shoulder. "You know, I think I have a pair of scissors in my bag-"

"Jade," Beck warned his girlfriend lightly, two fingers still pinching at his nose, "What did I tell you about threatening people with scissors?"

"But-",

"Even if they do smell bad."

The dark girl sighed again, exasperated, though she couldn't hide the slightest hint of laughter in her eyes as everyone settled back down again. "Fine, fine. But Robbie is _really_ pushing it today... Not that that's anything new."

"I _said_ I was sorry!"

* * *

Time seemed to move by so slowly in that broken down elevator. Slowly, silently. And worst of all, nothing about this bleak situation seemed to be getting any better for them. No sign of rescue yet, and no sign of the elevator working again either, as Beck had taken to trying out the various buttons on the wall at regular intervals with no success. The doors wouldn't open, the alarm wouldn't sound, and it truly began to seem like the only thing they could really do was wait it out as long as they had to.

For a while, the group of friends merely sat in a lopsided circle with their backs to the walls, staring at each other, unsure of what to do next; occasionally falling into an uncomfortable, crowded sleep only to stir again less than an hour or so later. Even Cat had completely given up on her coloring as she curled up on the floor in discomfort.

At one point, Tori found herself glaring down regretfully at her sparkling skin-tight cocktail dress and high heels as she attempted to contort herself into a more comfortable position without invading anyone else's personal space or looking indecent. Oh, why couldn't she have at least been stuck here in a nice, comfy pair of sweatpants and an oversized hoodie, instead?

Unable to take it any longer, the brunette broke the pressing silence with an audible groan, patting her stomach with a frown. "I'm hungry... Like, really hungry."

Cat immediately nodded in agreement, her bold red hair, once meticulously curled for their night out, now hanging limply over her shoulders. "I've _been_ hungry for ages! ...And I still have to pee."

Beside her, Robbie groaned as well. "I'm absolutely_ starving_."

"Yeah, yeah, we're all hungry here," Jade spoke up scornfully, glaring at their pathetically sparse pile of provisions in the center of the floor. "But we each ate our lollipops already, and finished off that nasty granola bar, so there's only the chocolate left... We should probably save it for later."

It was probably sound advice, seeing as how none of them had any idea just how long they would still be trapped in that stupid place - it could be _hours _before they were found, or even days, though no one wanted to bring up that worst-case scenario.

So yes, relatively simple in theory, but much more difficult to follow when none of them had had a good, proper meal since their late dinner at the restaurant. And while they didn't know exactly how long they had been stuck there, they _did _know that their deliciously filling, fancy meal had seemed like _ages _ago.

Cat frowned slightly, her lips pursed, thinking. She, too, looked over at their last lone bit of food, settled pitifully beside the half-finished bottle of water. "But... that was _my_ candy bar in the first place! And I don't _want _to save it for later, I'm hungry _now_! Can't I just eat it?"

"No!" André spoke up fervently, looking almost scared. He took a deep, shuddering sigh to calm himself as he continued, "I'm sorry, Lil' Red, but this is really important. As much as I don't like to admit it, Jade's right; we can't just eat your chocolate all willy-nilly like that right now."

"...Fine," Cat pouted, and she fell back against the mirrored elevator wall with a soft thud.

They sat in silence after that, each pair of eyes staring almost greedily at that lonely chocolate bar between them; the quiet broken only by the loud grumble of someone's empty stomach.

"Ugh, I can't take this anymore!" Robbie shouted suddenly, causing everyone else to jump back from him with a start. Rex slid ungracefully from his lap as he stretched forward toward the candy bar, quick as a flash.

"Hey, stop!"

Tori yelled at Robbie and grabbed him by the arm, pulling him back, and Beck reached forward to try and help her, but it was already too late.

Robbie hurriedly tore the wrapper off the bar of chocolate, and the rest of the group only caught a whiff of the sweet's mouthwatering aroma before it had disappeared in its entirely. They could only watch in shocked horror as the curly-haired boy stuffed the whole bar - their last remaining food - into his frantic mouth.

"Robbie!" Cat cried out, "That was my chocolate bar!"

As his small redheaded friend began to tear up, Robbie looked like he was about to cry, too. He quickly swallowed with a cough, stammering, "I'm sorry, I'm really sorry, okay? I-I just panicked, all right? I didn't mean to!"

Hesitating, he reached forward as though to grab Cat's hand comfortingly, but she quickly pulled away from his touch, the hurt painfully evident in her watery brown eyes as she gazed up at him in disappointment.

"You didn't mean to shove the entire chocolate bar into your mouth!?" Tori shouted, uncharacteristically upset. Both Beck and André couldn't manage to do anything but stare. "What the heck, how do you possibly do that on accident?"

"I don't know!" Robbie moaned remorsefully, his glasses knocked askew. It was truly a pitiful sight to behold. "I'm so sorry, Cat."

"Great, now we're all going to starve to death, thanks to you," Jade sighed, narrowing her eyes as though seriously rethinking her previous decision to not go for the pair of scissors stuffed somewhere in her purse, despite her boyfriend's cautions. "Like I said, Robbie is _really_ pushing it."

* * *

**A/N: Yeah, I admit that was another sort of filler chapter, really filler actually, but I felt I had to get something out there. Further updates on this story should come relatively quick, now that I have it listed as one of my priorities again, and I can assure you all that the next chapter will be much more interesting, I think. And there should be three more after this.**

** Thank you for reading, and feel free to leave any comments, questions, or concerns in a review! :)**

**-CCM**


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